BeeHawks win final game over the Buckeyes 7-5

Four Redhawks joined six Bees to form the powerhouse BeeHawks!

In a tight exciting game we defeated the cross-town rival Buckeyes 7-5. The Bucks pulled close at the end, but Jane Gephart pulled out the save.

In the first and last BeeHawks game we had (left to right) Tim, Jane, Jake, Joe, Alec, Asher (with bat), Jesper (joined us Thursday!), Ben, Aidan and David (who somehow missed our 4th inning picture, click the picture for full sized version.

A special thanks goes to our 'Hawks who allowed us to play a very fun game.

The Bees coaches had decided ahead of the game that it would be fair to advance to the final consolation game even if we won since we had so few remaining Bees. So, despite a triumphant performance, this was our final game of the 2009 season.

Fall Ball is in September, don't forget to register on the official hgra.org site!

Many thanks to all who contributed to a great season from Coaches Marty, Paul and John. A special thanks to our official scorekeeper and unofficial assistant coach Dan Taylor and to Commissioner Dennis Merley for getting us to this final game.

Update: I've uploaded team images to private site and sent out the page link in a private email. If you need the link, just email jfaughnan@gmail.com

Game saturday

We're going to make a go at the playoff game Saturday. We have 6 players and Commissioner Dennis is hunting down 3 more.

See you there!

Update: I'm working on the rotation. If we have six players we can still play, though we'd technically forfeit I'm sure we can get a game. We'd have Ben play roving outfield depending on his call on pitcher and batter, and we'd play 3 deep infielders with positions depending on base positions. I'm expecting we'll probably have 8 though with two additions.

Bees get 8 runs, Saturday game 11am at Homecroft East

We hit well tonight! We also pitched well -- but man, the Seals can hit. They are the hittingest team we've seen.

Tonight was we had eight hard core Bees in attendance and we were joined for the Major League debut of Jesper Selverda. Jesper did very well!

Of the original Bees team we had Jimmy, Wiley, Collin, Oscar, Aidan, Tim, Asher and Will. Liam and Jesper filled out our numbers.

We really appreciated Tim and Wiley who pitched well against some big bats. Aidan was a great catcher too and made a big foul ball catch.

A Saturday game would be at 11am at Homecroft East. For that game we would have Tim, Aidan, Asher, Jesper, David and Ben and we'd need 3 additions from the three teams that are eliminated in the 8:30 am games. Commissioner Dennis is determining if that's really feasible. I'll update this page and contact everyone by email as soon as we know more.

It's been a challenging season for the Bees, but I think it's also been a lot of fun for all who played.

Don't forget -- Fall Ball is coming (see prior post and main site)

Bees games Thursday and Saturday – we have a plan (and Fall Ball!)

We had a terrific scrimmage and team party yesterday. I’m happy to say that my ankle is recovering from my son Tim’s 100mph fastball.

After the scrimmage we were concerned about having enough players for Thursday and Saturday.

It’s still close and I’m working on getting confirmation from one family, but I think we’ll be good for our big Thursday game. Jesper Selverda will be coming up from the Minors to help us out. We will have opportunities for pitchers!

If we lose on Thursday we play 11am on Saturday and Commissioner Merley will find players for us from the teams lose earlier in the day.

If we win on Thursday we’ll be scrambling to find players for Saturday morning and Commissioner Merley will help us with that.

The player positions web page has the latest summary of who we think will be available on each day.

So we expect to have some fun opportunities for our Bees players on Thursday and Saturday. On Saturday Free Davanni's pizza and drinks will be available for lunch, courtesy of HGRA Baseball.

I think we can be considered underdogs, so everyone should aim to have fun and not worry about making mistakes. In other words, swing and go for the ball!

Lastly, we’re staring Fall Ball in September, registration is online after 7/23:

... HGRA Fall Baseball is on deck. The league is open to anyone with a date of birth between 9-1-96 and 8-31-00. We start on Sept. 13, at 1:00 and will play every Sunday at that time until the weather stops us. If we get enough players, a team might get to play a double header or two.
There are no practices - just games on Sundays. All games are at the Homecroft School fields on Edgcumbe and Sheridan Rd.
Starting Thursday, July 23, you can register online for Fall Ball. Just follow the directions listed on our home page. Then show up at Homecroft on Sept. 13 at 1:00 ready to play...

Weather clearing out for tonight

We had some severe weather in the Roseville area at about 5pm, but it's clearing out.

I think we'll be good for our scrimmage and party, but do bring warm clothing (long sleeved shirts, a rain jacket) and be ready to get muddy (a towel might be a good idea too!).

john

Update 6:20pm: Weather is moving from NW to SE and looks decent on the sat maps and the eyeballs in the NW. So Tim and I will be there with the ice cream treats! We'll move 1st base, it's pretty wet.

HGRA 2009 Major League Tournament and practice reminder

The HGRA web site how has the official bracket.

We finished tied with Buckeyes, Bees and Mustangs with a 2/7 record - officially 7th place.

We play the 2nd place Seals Thursday at 6:30pm at Highland Senior High.

We might yet surprise the Seals, but if we don't then we'll play Saturday 7/25 11am at Homecroft East (see the brackets for what happens if we win!). If we win that game we play again at 1:15pm. We expect to have pizza and drinks for the 11:30 - 12:30 time frame on Saturday, and a portable bathroom will be available.

Again, see the brackets for the official story, I'll bring a printed version to our practice/party.

Tuesday 7/21 is our practice/party. It starts at 7pm (usual time) at Aldine. We'll have treats for all. Parents and adult supporters please bring your gloves to play!

End of season party and Family-Player game pitchers

John will be away next week, so he won't be able to pitch for us Thursday and Saturday.

So we're going to rotate our pitchers quite a bit during our scrimmage Tuesday, giving our relief pitchers some starting experience.

Fielding, Pitching - great. Hitting, not so much.

We had very good pitching (John esp) tonight, and excellent fielding (Tim's glove was hot), but it wasn't our night to hit. The Grays, on the other hand, were hitting well.

Tuesday practice is our team party. Coach Paul will bring beverages, coach John will bring ice cream sandwiches, and coach Marty will bring something solid. For the Bees v. Parents scrimmage the big team will bat 'opposites'.

Thur is our first playoff game. Check the official web site for location, we'll also have that information at practice. We play our final games Saturday morning (25th).

Equipment drop-off procedure (July 26)

From Dennis, the procedure for dropping off our equipment after our playoff games Saturday

Since every team plays at least one game in the tournament on Saturday, July 26, you should just bring your equipment to the fence where you enter the west Homecroft field (by the cul-de-sac) when you are through playing on that day.

The losing team at Highland should drive their gear to the drop off point.

Please take a few moments to empty the bags of any old line-up cards, water bottles or other garbage that might have collected, and try to dump the dirt out if possible.

Also, when returning the equipment, please point out any defective items.

If your last game is rained out, please deliver your equipment to me at the Hillcrest Rec Center storage area between 6:30-7:00. Just walk down the service drive and look to your left for an open door in the corner.

Pitching clinic is still running

It often wraps up around this time of year, but there will be a clinic today (Monday 7/13).

Bees lance Hawks 13-9

The Bees are moving up.

Last week we lost a squeaker with the 3rd place Spiders. Tonight we decisively beat the Redhawks who were previously tied for 2nd place.

We are competitive with any team in the HGRA Majors. That means on any night we will put up a good fight and we can certainly win.

We did well just about everywhere. I'm impressed with Oscar's fielding readiness and his keen attitude. Tim did very well catching, hitting and pitching -- he saved the game for us in the 5th, allowing only 1 run and making the game ending out on a hard bounce and a smooth toss to Ben.

Ben excelled at pitching, fielding and hitting. Matthew played his very first game in the Majors and was one of our best fielders -- and had a lovely double.

We all did well at bat - nice hit Lucas!

The Hawks and we were equally matched at bat. They were stronger in the field. We won because we had strong pitching performances from John, Ben and Tim.

When we're at full strength we have a large number of pitchers. That will really make a difference in our championship games when most teams run out of pitchers. If we keep our numbers up we may surprise several teams over the next two weeks. I know we shocked the Hawks tonight.

New players, Team party 7/21, Fall Ball, Playoffs

We have two new players moving up from the Minors - Liam Morrisey and Matthew Goldade. Both are excellent ball players. Liam will be away Thursday but Matthew will be on duty. Sophie has decided to retire from baseball - she had a lot going on this summer.

I've done part of the rotation for our Thur game. Even with our two additions we only expect 11 players. We know Aidan, David, Jimmy and Liam will be away. If you will be late for the game or will miss it please let coach john know (jfaughnan@gmail.com). Please try to arrive around 6pm.

Oscar will bring treats Thursday. There's a glitch on one of the web site schedules, but the schedule on this site is correct (see above).

Our 7/21 practice will be a team party. Parents, family and friends vs. the Bees. Coaches will bring treats. Usual time and place - Aldine field, 7pm.

We have two regular season games left, then the playoffs. The official web site front page has information on the playoffs and on Fall ball.

End of season Family/Friends vs. Bees scrimmage – July 21 Aldine Field 7:00pm

We have to move things around a bit due to schedule conflicts.

Our end of season party will be at our last practice. We’ll start with a scrimmage between Family/Friends and Bees. This will be an unofficial event in place of the practice.

Coaches will bring treats for after the scrimmage.

Coach Paul is putting things together!